Settlement crack or structural?
Danny Situ
7 months ago
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7 months agolast modified: 7 months agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
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Settlement Chamber questions & (D. Lim pumps?)
Comments (3)Settlement chambers are all about time lag, and reduction of current flow in some manner. Most often, a conical chamber is used to create a vortex chamber. A vortex uses the theory that heavier than water items will be spun out of the water and settle to the the bottom of the chamber. Depth prevents freezing. The "minimum flow" you refer to for a settlement chamber is in regard to the conecting pipe to the pond to keep detrius from clogging it. There is no minimum flow for the chamber itself. The slower the better, which also means bigger. A Settlement Chamber, (SC) usually is fed from a bottom drain, and is usually gravity fed by a large diameter pipe. It(the SC)is sized to the amount flow to be removed from it by the pump, and the volume of water over time (flow) is also used to size the drain pipe. When you take water out of the SC, with the pump, it draws down to a level below the level of the pond water, gravity replaces it through the bottom drain pipe of the pond, and with the water comes the detrius. The water is seeking level to equalize with the pond through a restriction which is the drain pipe. As the system operates, the pump draws down a fairly consistant amount according to how big the connecting pipe is, from the pond to the SC. So the water is constantly moving through the pipe when the pump is drawing down the level of the SC. To accomplish this, you need a fairly large SC volume, compared to a vortex, and you need a fairly large pipe to make sure the level is not dropped too much by the pump. The idea is to get a flow large enough through the pipe to carry the junk through, and then open up into a big enough chamber to slow the flow down, so the junk can settle to the bottom again in the chamber. This gives you a smaller area to clean. For sizing of the pipe, figure out your static head in the drain pipe and consult a flow chart. (How long, how many fittings, any turns.) You will find that you need a minimum 4" pipe, probably larger with the volume you want to move, to maintain a reasonably small draw down in the chamber. The rule of thumb I used to size my settling chamber is a minimum capacity of 10 times the amount of flow through it in one minute, to create a minimum lag time of 10 minutes. So, if you are drawing out 4000 GPH, that is 66.66 GPM and just under a 700 gallon SC. (666.6 gal) A little bigger may be a little better, as more will fall out of the water. You draw out at a level just below your expected drop set by the pipe size from the pond bottom drain to the SC, which should all remain below the final water level of the pond (and, if possible, below the frost line). A vortex, is pressure fed from the side to spin the water, and a drain is at the bottom to allow cleaning as needed. The vortex chamber too must be properly sized based on the amount of water you want to move. and the removal point is normally higher than the entry point, so heavier than water items fall downward, and cleaner water flows out the higher drain via gravity. As far as the amount of water you want to move goes, the one hour turn over is recommended for high fish loads, particularly Koi. It takes a bunch of electricity to move the amount of water you are considering, so if you are not planning on keeping large amounts of Koi, consider moving less water. One turn every 4 hours would be about one quarter of the energy used, require smaller pipe sizes and chamber sizes. It would still provide clean water, and quieter(less turbulent) water, which is important if you want waterlilys. As far as chamber depth goes, you have a "frost line" set for your area. Any water NOT moving will freeze as deep as that line in the worst of winters. Any contractor from your area will know it. Keep as much of your buried plumbing as possible below that that level unless it can be drained and plugged for the winter. You WILL lose power now and then, and when you do, all your water is NOT moving until it comes back on. Check with a local contractor to get below your "frost line". In 6b it won't be too deep. I am in 5b, and consider it 30 inches, though it is strickly considered at 36 inches. Yours should be 30" or less. This is a worst case scenario, so you might do fine most years above the frost line, but a sustained cold snap in a cold year might have you digging again! You have more research to do to get sizing right. Let us know what your intentions are for your pond, and we can help more with sizings. In my opinion, a SC from a skimmer is wasted effort, as a skimmer collects primarily things that float, and should catch them inside itself for removal. Vortex and settling chambers are for sinking things, which are reduced by the amount the skimmer removes. Please consider your needs and possibly reducing your flow, as we all need to conserve energy these days. You may need to keep fewer and/or smaller fish, but you will save money on construction, and operation. Hope this helps, -TT...See MoreTake settlement? Repair or not?
Comments (7)Ask your insurance agent to see what they say. Its very hard for me to assess since I don't know the extent of the damage or the shop who will do the repair. Its one of those "it depends". Of couse, a future buyer will try to downgrade the price using "It has been in an accident" as a lever. However, it could be as good as any other copy of the same car. For example: Suppose there were no structural damage and it was only sheet metal involved. An example repair might have been bolting on a new fender and re-skinning a door or replacing the door, and then painting. A good shop would have applied rust proofing on the inside of the door panel, preped and primed the surface to be painted, color matched the paint, re-painted and applied a clear coat if appropriate. The repaird portion would be as good as new. It would have fresh paint and would be better than the remainder of the car. In that case, it could be considered 'restored' and there should be no decline in value. However, if the structure was bent and had to be straightened, there could be a deduction. Again, it depends on the shop. A good shop can bring the body check points back into specified measurements, but there could be items hard to fix. The process of bending can crack rust proofing finishes and compromise effectiveness. Premature corrosion could occur. In this case, there is a downgrade of value. Its the hidden things I'd be concerned about. When a car door is re-skinned, the repairman may take a short cut. If, in the process, the rain sheet on the inside of the door was cut away for convenience and not replaced, this may not show up until several months afterward and after rains. After the cover panel on the insde of the car gets soaked from behind, it may begin to deterioate. The first hint might be a musty smell or a stain. Another potential problem, again a short cut, the repairman paid no attention to the water drains at the bottom of the door and allowed these to be plugged. A quality shop would have insured these drains were open. The bottom line is, I would have no problem if the repair was made by a quality shop. If there were major structural damage, there could be a drop in value. Your car is a desireable car and there are not many of those in the States. You have the option of keeping the repair money and selling the car as is, if you can find a buyer. It would be a hobbyist who restores autos. If the opponent's insurance company is willing to pay for a quality repair, that is a good option. First, get an estimate from a shop recommended by your insurance agent to discover if enough was allowed for the repair....See MoreCarrier Heat Exchanger Class Action Settlement
Comments (54)Mike, it's completely different when you have a FAD which is none other than an 'independent HVAC contractor' that has agreed to sell Carrier branded equipment. The FAD merely represents that this 'independent HVAC contractor' sells enough equipment thru the year to afford this 'description' from Carrier (it's about selling and moving equipment). And the home in which the equipment is sold 'by the noted FAD', is ALSO 'maintained' thru said 'FAD' or 'independent HVAC contractor'. If the FAD didn't install and maintain said equipment --- your recourse is bupkiss. What is required to 'maintain' equipment is more or less left up to the FAD or 'independent HVAC contractor'... there is no difference between these two points --- except for the contract to sell Carrier brand equipment, and because the FAD sells all this equipment typically 100K or more per year. (The FAD isn't in business to fix equipment they DID NOT install / nor maintain.) --- guess again. Where things get messy: the home's Carrier equipment is not maintained by installing contractor. Regardless if they are 'FAD' or not... doesn't matter. $$$ is what moves people to do something. Don't kid yourself. If someone buys a home with said Carrier equipment installed --- which proves my point that 'FAD' means nothing --- why is this home owner having trouble finding this kind of support? Again Mike, FAD doesn't mean anything like you think it does....See MoreNormal cracks from settling or structural issue?
Comments (8)The cause of our structional damage was due to the contractor bringing in fill dirt and not compressing it. He smoothed out the dirt and built the house. Within a few years the dirt settled and half the house went with it. The piers (for support) he installed under the concrete slab did not go to solid ground. They fell out like toothpicks when the plumber dug through the side of the house. When we were sodding the backyard the guy said we had a leak coming from bottom of house. We tore off wallpaper near sink in master bath and there was no leak but pipes were starting to pull apart. I had an engineer (not structional) from work come out to get his advice. He said worse case scenario....every pipe under your bathroom floor is broken. Sadly he was right. It cost about 40,000 to get all the issues fixed. Nobody took responsibility. The had to pour grout underneath the house to fill the void and all pipes had to be repaired. Look OP, your situation could be entirely different than ours. You obviously are having settling but in order to see if it's minor or not get a structional engineer to assess your house....See MoreDanny Situ
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7 months agoMark Bischak, Architect
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7 months agoCharles Ross Homes
7 months agoMark Bischak, Architect
7 months agoDanny Situ
7 months agoMark Bischak, Architect
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7 months agoMark Bischak, Architect
7 months agoDanny Situ
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7 months agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
7 months agoCharles Ross Homes
7 months agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
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